Beauty, a one-man show by San Francisco-based playwright Steven Patterson, opens Jan. 12 at NY's Theatre Off Park.

Beauty, a one-man show by San Francisco-based playwright Steven Patterson, opens Jan. 12 at NY's Theatre Off Park. The play, inspired by the early writings of the French playwright-novelist Jean Genet (including Our Lady of the Flowers, Miracle of the Rose, The Thief's Journal and Querelle), is an examination of the writer's years in prison.

Beauty had its premiere at the 1994 San Francisco Fringe Festival and has been seen at festivals in Montreal, Toronto, Victoria, Vancouver and Los Angeles -- where it was honored with a 1994 Drama-Logue Award.